After about 1 month, Brad from B&B Scuba was able to get me out on the Helldiver dive bomber for another underwather photo session. I have been working with the Warbird Information Exchange forum to identify the airplane model. We thought initially the plane was a Dougless Dauntless Dive Bomber. I am now convinced by the ID of the forum experts and the details of the wreck that the wreck is a CurtissSB2C-1C Helldiver. The C model switched to 2 20mm cannons in the wings from 4 machine guns and the plane has 3 blades on the propeller. The cockpit is totally encrusted with coral and the aluminum tag is nowhere to be found. The tail fin of the plane is lying just behind the wreck. It's covered with sand and is pretty hard to dig up (it would take a whole dive to dig it out). I dusted it off but didn't find any markings but I think it merits another attempt. I have purchased some Magic Filters for my camera and am going to try to get some ambient light shots of the wreck on my next dive. During this dive, Stan took my video camera so I have a whole dive of HD footage on the wreck from Stan. He did a great job with the video so I'll post that when I can get it processed... Perhaps a few weeks there...
Here are my photos of the wreck... I converted many to Black and White for something different... I think they came out ok but I'd like to see the shots with the Magic Filters! Here are my previous photos in case you want to see more.
I was the first one on the wreck and it was really cool being the first to photography this WWII legandary plane. The cockpit has been taken over by a large Moray Eel which made exploration difficult. The plan is missing the tail fin and the rear gun. The wreck looks like it's in really good shape. The wreck location remains a secret pending actions by NOAA or other agencies. Brad would like to keep the wreck protected but wants people to be able to dive the bomber. I think this will be the best wreck dive on Maui. It's good news in light of the recent reef destruction by the state government.
The propeller was the home for a Sponge Crab and a large group of Ulua were resting below one of the wings. The plane also had lots of nudibranchs and different sponges.
John and I left the Padang Bai area with a driver for 20 dollars each. We headed up north through Amlapura and over the hills to get to Tulamben. We were staying at the Paradise Resort which was the first hotel in Tulamben (long ago). The rooms have been updated a little, but they put the electrical jack right above the bed's headboard which made it difficult to charge anything. The staff provided us with some power boxes we could use so that problem was solved. The hotel lies on the ocean side of the street and runs all the way down to the ocean. The restaurant is at the end and provides a great place to have beers or eat dinner with some spectacular views and cooling breezes. The staff was friendly and each day we were provided with a free breakfast with out 30 dollar per day room (it has AC too). The staff did a good job of doing our laundry but wouldn't do our undewear for religious reasons.
We were diving with Ocean Sun (Blue Water) dive shop with Ricardo, Katut, Kanji, and Yeoman. During our stay in Tulamben, we hit every dive site except Soraya. We dove Alamanda, Batu Kilibit, and the drop-off several times from shore and Jukung. During one night dive I saw a 4 foot White Tip Reef shark and a 3 foot Black Tip on our way back from the dropoff just at the edge of the sand. On another night we saw two massive lobster which were as long as my forearm. They had to be quite large since we saw some for sale down in Kuta that looked like babies in comparison. I'd estimate at least 10 lbs. They were so massive I think I would have been hurt trying to catch them with my bare hands. We just admired them for a while then sent them down the slope.
On another dive at Paradise Reef I saw a large Grouper bite a small moray and pull him out of his hole. A Barracuda and Bluefin Trevally both were circling around hoping for some scraps. The Moray ended up surviving! :)
On the Liberty Wreck we saw several Ghost Pipefish and the Pygmy Seahorse a few times. We also made a point of seeing the gun on our last dive on the wreck. It's covered in corals and lying on it's side (the whole front is on it's starboard side) but very recognizable if you are looking for it. We saw the large Barracuda on several ocassions. One time I got so close to him I was scared he was going to bite me (a few inches away) but he just swam on. He's the largest Barracuda I have ever seen. We also saw the resident grouper on several ocassions and he was always very kind letting us get a good look at him. I think John got a good photo of him. We also saw a few bumpheads on the wreck and the whole school when we were doing our deco at Batu Kelebit.
While diving Batu Kelebit we decended down below the PADI Advanced diver limit. While I was at Max Depth, I looked down and saw a large White Tip Reef Shark below me and just on the edge of visibility I could see one above me. The vis was quite good but it was patchy sort of like thermoclines... but no real temp change...
We also dove Kubu 4 times which lies about 15 minutes down the road to the north. Kubu has some nice reef on both sides with lots of Garden Eels, thousands of small fish and some sharks living down there. Sadly the reef has a lot of fishing line and some rope on it but John, Katut and I helped out and cut off some line and took out some trash. It really hurts me to see such amazing beauty so neglected. I'd like to go back just to clean up some of the reefs. I think I will!
Anyway, Tulamben is a great place to dive, but I think if you go you really need to make an effort to dive Amed, Kubu, Gili Biaha and Gili Selang if you can. You won't regret it! I'll add more photos to this album soon!
John and I are back from Bali after 19 days. We did a fairly comprehensive tour of Bali covering all the good diving sites from east to west. We ended up not diving Soraya in Tulamben and PJ near Lovina but that was due to logistics and forgetting about Soraya. We did dive Gili Mimpang, Gili Tepekon, Gili Bahia, Gili Selang, Nusa Penida, the island of Menjangan, the Japanese wreck at Amed, Secret Bay at Amed, shore diving Kubu, and all the sites except Soraya at Tulamben. We ended up doing 38 or 39 dives during our trip. The most wonderful part of the trip was all the good people we met along the way. The hotel and boat crew all along our trip from Absolute Scuba, Ocean Sun Dive Shop at Tulamben, the staff at the Paradise resort in Tulamben, the staff at the Sunari Resort, and our favorite driver at the end of our trip Gede who took us down to Sanur and Kuta and finally to the airport the next day. WOW! What cool people.
In the beginning we headed down to Padang Bai and dove with Absolute Scuba at all the local and distant sites like Blue Lagoon, Gili Mimpang, Gili Tepekong, and Nusa Penida. I was pretty unimpressed with Blue Lagoon. The site has very little living coral and not very many fish. We did see some nudis but they can live anywhere with some food supply. I would skip blue Lagoon all together and dive Mimpang and Tekekong or dive Nusa Penida instead. Mimpang and Tepekong were excellent dive sites with abundant healthy corals and interesting critters. I believe it was Telekong which had the shark cave where we saw 3-4 White Tip Sharks, but the hilight of those sites was the very healthy corals, 100+ feet of visibility and the 80+ degree water temperature. Diving from the JuKung was a fun experience which I'm sure John and I won't soon forget. After diving Tepekong and Mimpang we went on a bigger boat over to Nusa Penida and trip to dive the backside where Manta Point lies. As we entered the strait between Nusa Penida and Nusa Lembongan the waves were too massive and we had to turn around. We had a few moments of panic since we didn't get any briefing on life jackets (where they are), but thankfully we turned and got out of the waves within a few minutes. John had noticed our DM wearing a life jacket under his shirt which I found amusing later :) After we headed up the coast we found our first site and I was advised not to bring my camera for the dive due to the current. The dive was great, but the current wasn't an issue. Dive two, I got the same advice but I elected to bring the camera. We had some very strong current and we had a ripping dive down the coast. Since John and I are both experienced divers we had no issues. Some people on the boat were new divers and they had a few issues but all-in-all everyone did well. We were diving with a group of 3 Chinese from Hong Kong and a few Australians who all turned out to be nice people. The dive was excellent. Our DM deployed his reef hook at one point but there was no need. We could hide from the current behind rocks and in "sand holes" behind the rocks. I really love current diving! The final dive was pretty much the same. We saw some octos, a few turtles, a cuttlefish or two and some really nice reef fish. The next day we dove Mimpang again and Tepekong. The DM wanted to dive Blue Lagoon but I had him turn around the Jukung and head back to Tepekong for our 2nd dive. We had great dives at these sites seeing some Pelagics, Cuttlefish, a black Frogfish, a Long-nosed Hawkfish, some nudis and tons of fish and beautiful corals. I'll go into the diving at Tulamben on my next blog post.
John and I met up in Taipei in the beginning of the week. The flight was good although I was a little sketched about flying and airbus plane. We stayed the night and flew to Bali the next day. Wow it was hot in Bali! We found our driver and headed up to Padang Bai and did all the usual paperwork and camera setup.
We did a night dive at Blue Lagoon which was definitely sub-par. The next day we took the Jukung out to Mimpang and Tipikong off Candidasa and those were some excellent dives. The corals are really nice and they have a shark cave. We then did another night dive at Blue Lagoon which was sub-par and then the next day we headed over to Nusa Penida. As we tried to get to the exposed side of the island going through the straight between Lembongon(sp) and Nusa Penida we had to turn back due to the very large swells. We did 3 dives on the inside of Nusa Penida and the corals were fantastic. The 2nd dive was a fast drift and it was a total blast!! I have never dove in such fast current but it went well. Lots of fish and some nudis. The next day we dove Tipikong and Mimpang again and we had another great set of dives.
We opted to transfer to Tulamben instead of doing anymore dives in Padang Bai and we dove the liberty wreck along with a night dive at the drop off. The Liberty was an epic dive. Critters and schools of fish were everywhere. Even the safety stop had a school of jacks! I have not done a better wreck or shore dive in my life. We then did a night dive at the drop off which was another awesome dive! So many critters!! Crodidile fish, cuttlefish, lots of reef fish, pipefish and more. Amaying corals and really nice conditions.
Today we are diving the liberty again then taking the Jukung down the coast for a deeper dive at Batu Kelbit(sp). We will do another night dive at the Paradise reef right in front of our hotel (Paradise Resort).
I have to say the people in Bali are so friendly it amazes me. The dive guides are very helpful and the accomodations are good. You really can't find a better place to visit and better diving for the price!
I did a dive off Molokini where I saw a nice Day Octopus and with the usual suspects. Later that evening I took out the 105mm for it's maiden voyage at Makena Landing. We saw some cool stuff including the Snow Goddess (this species seems to be common these days) and some Bigfish Reef Squid. Makena Landing is an interesting dive at night... No sharks in the caves but lots of Sponge Crabs... It was definitely a fun dive! Oh before the night dive I saw what appears to be a Praying Mantis on my screen door.. So I took a few pics with the 105 for fun!
I was diving with Tim at Ulua... I was shooting with the 105 but I had my camera on ISO 1000. Anyway, the photos were ok. The 105 and diopter are definitely a beast! I'm enjoying the new lens but I hope my results will improve (at least consistency).
The Unknown Nudi was swimming around and I caught him in mid-water and landed him on a rock... A pretty little thing!
I went out with Steve Juarez on the Hawaiian Rafting boat in April to dive the First and Second Cathedrals. We saw a few whales on the way over which is always a plus. We stopped for a while and observed them. Tyler was the dive master and he's was extremely nice and helpful on the boat. Steve is also a very nice man and was very helpful on the dive. He came and got me when I was about to surface to show me the Snow Goddess Nudi he found (he knew I was looking for interesting critters). The dives were quite nice with vis easily 75 feet plus. I didn't find too many nudis but I did see some cool reef fish (my favorite) like the Bandit Angelfish and the Long-nosed Butterflyfish. On the way back we passed Lanai City and saw a pod of dolphins which followed the boat for a while. I took some video on my point and shoot and I will post that later along with some surface shots. Now it's June and the whales are gone which is quite a shame! Whale season is the most interesting time critter-wise (although there was a whale shark sited off Molokini Backwall a few days ago) but the diving is quite nice in the summer. The water is warm, the weather is mild... It's really a nice time... So Maui/Hawaii has something to offer all seasons!
I was using my Nikon 60mm with a Teleconverter 1.4x which seems to make the shots dark and slows down the focus. I really think it destroys the fish portrait characteristics of the 60mm. I have since bought a 105mm Nikon lens and another Woody's Diopter (my last one is somehwere off Tulamben, Bali). I think I may ebay the TC since I'll probably never use it again.
